


And So We Shall Become As One

by BreakTheDawn



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 9S-centirc, BAMF 9S, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Gen, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 14:55:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11808273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreakTheDawn/pseuds/BreakTheDawn
Summary: “This is spectacular,” 9S mutters, “I never thought that I would see a human so close.”Lance frowns. This is getting weirder by the second. It’s almost as if…“Why not?” the blue paladin asks, “...Aren’t you human yourself?”ORLance does some inter-dimensional hopping and ends up stuck in the Earth of Nier: Automata. He could use a friend and an ally, and so could 9S. Good thing 9S is the one who finds him then.





	And So We Shall Become As One

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with starting another chaptered fic without completing my others! :)
> 
> But for real though, I've had this story bug just floating around and it finally got to the point where I had to do something with it. Mind the tags as we go along, because I will likely update them with the story, and proceed with caution just in case of spoilers!
> 
> Anyways, I'll just stop talking now and save the rest for the end note, please enjoy!

“Please proceed with caution,” Operator 210 warns plainly, “reports say that several machines have been found destroyed within the radius of this tower. This implies that the anomaly is armed.”

 

“Understood,” 9S nods to himself, staring up curiously at the building in shambles before him. “Is there anything else I should know, ma’am? Or have any other attempts of surveillance failed since I left?”

 

“It would appear that the anomaly is armed with a long-range weapon,” his Operator replies, “Unfortunately, we have not been able to devote much time or resources to determining anything other than we know so far.”

\

9S merely hums in affirmation. He’d figured as much. After all, there were many more pressing and immediate concerns regarding the actions of the machines lately, which was one reason why he was sent here without the support of 2B. 

 

A strange anomaly had appeared approximately two weeks ago on the planet, something immediately noticeable by all of their scanners by completely foreign to anything they’d seen before. 9S had worked alongside trackers from the monitors of the Bunker to attempt to discern what this anomaly was exactly, but all they had been able to determine was that it was some mechanical construct that had given off waves completely immeasurable by their instruments, and that the waves it exuded were immense in power levels.

 

They’d noticed immediately, and the machines had noticed not too long after. The anomaly had been immediately surrounded by hostiles, but appeared to escape from the situation completely unscathed, leaving the scraps of the machines in its wake. Though this wasn’t what interested 9S so much. Because new technology they could not understand was always popping up within the machines ranks, and all it took was a good hacking to understand them eventually. 

 

What was most interesting was when the anomaly came to this particular spot before disappearing from the planet entirely, according to their scanners. It left behind a smaller anomaly, that they quickly realized wasn’t a machine at all. Though it exuded waves of the same type as the first anomaly (just as strongly, to boot), it was very obviously an organic being. And if that wasn’t interesting enough, it seemed to be a being that 9S had only studied and learned about, but had never actually encountered face-to-face before. 

 

Whatever was in this tower had a biological composition strikingly similar to that of a human being, and that was enough to make 9S ache (theoretically of course) to see it for himself. And so he quickly found himself requesting the opportunity to come down here and study it. Only recently had he been approved.

 

“No other presence has been detected from within the tower,” Pod 153 states unbidden. Oops, he must have been standing around for a bit too long.

 

“Understood,” 9S nods, beginning his march towards the dilapidated structure. He summons Cruel Arrogance to his hand just briefly enough to examine it for any superficial damage. He’d chosen the spear for its crowd control benefit, considering that 2B is not with him, and he’d only been forced to use it lightly up to this point.

 

Satisfied that there’s no reason to change it, he dismisses it back to the mount on his back as he gets even closer to the building. 

 

His steps change naturally as he reaches the arc of downed machine bodies, both to examine the damage and to see if the anomaly will fire upon him as well. It’s easy to see from this close that all of these machines were bested by a laser-based firearm. 

 

It doesn’t, so 9S continues on cautiously.

 

“Where is the anomaly located within the tower?” He asks his Pod.

 

“Four stories up,” 153 responds, “it seems to be waiting by one of the openings in the structure on this side. Rather closely, if I may add.”

 

“So it’s likely spotted me,” 9S concludes. There is no other tactically sound reason for why the anomaly would be so close to a vulnerable part of the building when it obviously knows that certain beings around here mean it harm. “I wonder why it hasn’t tried to fire on me yet?”

 

He looks up to the general area that 153 transmits to him, and finds that he cannot see anything currently in the gaping hole in the building. The anomaly is hidden well.

 

“Are you able to get a visual? Or a heat signature?” the chances of it actually being a human are astronomically low, but they are close enough now that 153 should be able to get a more succinct idea of the anomaly’s composition.

 

“No visual,” the Pod responds, “but the anomaly seems to be operating at an internal temperature of 94.085724.”

 

That’s lower than a standard human temperature. 9S tries to stifle his instinctive reaction of disappointment. He’d come down here knowing that it was almost impossible for the anomaly to be an actual human being. No point in getting discouraged so quickly. 

 

“Is there anything else that you can determine from here?” he asks as they approach.

 

“It appears to be taller than you.” 153 says like that’s relevant at all.

 

“ _ Thanks _ ,” 9S drawls sarcastically, “how informative.”

…

 

There are times when Lance really  _ hates  _ being a defender of the universe.

 

Sure, it’s a pretty good gig at times. He gets to see new planets all the time, gets to meet new beings just as often. He gets to be alongside a motley crew that he can honestly say had become like a second family to him. Blue is amazing, and saving the universe really does feel great for the most part. 

 

All the same though, half of those planets always end up being hostile or filled with things that try to kill them. He’s always in need of a healing pod because the universe apparently has it out for him. The Galra really suck. And while he loves his space family, the ache of his real family has never quite left, even after almost two years in space. 

 

_ Oh _ , Lance mentally reminds himself to expand that list. And sometimes you end up stranded in an alternate, apocalyptic version of Earth of all things that’s inhabited by  _ robots  _ that  _ scream  _ and  _ chant  _ and try to kill you while you’re forced to send your Lion back through the wormhole you used to get here so the interdimensional whatever that was installed can be fixed before she can come back for you.

 

Because Lance is  _ not  _ an interdimensional being capable of magically traveling across planes of existence, he’d made the gut-wrenching decision to send Blue back through the wormhole they’d used originally because of course those crazy screaming robots (that wielded  _ fucking axes _ , by the way) damaged the attachment that Pidge, Coran, Hunk and Slav had worked so hard to place on Blue, which is what allowed her to bring Lance across the dimensional barrier in the first place.

 

And to add insult to injury (or no injury, because this is one of the few solo missions Lance has undertook in which he was not immediately injured in some type of way due to his abysmal luck), he’s no closer to finding whatever Haggar had apparently dropped into this dimensional in hopes of eventually making a way for the Galra to come here and take control of the ridiculously advanced tech here. 

 

This place is apparently supposed to have technology comparable to that of Altea’s, maybe even superior, according to Slav. But other than the evil robots that still occasionally come out to approach the tower, Lance has seen nothing to back up this claim.

 

What he is seeing now though, is pretty interesting.

 

It’s a teenaged boy from the looks of it, dressed in black with white hair and wearing what looks to be a blindfold for some reason. There’s a very brutal looking polearm hovering at his back, as well as a Pod that reminds Lance of Rover floating by his side. The weapon makes the blue paladin mildly nervous, but the knowledge that humanity is pushed nearly to the brink of extinction in this version of Earth is what keeps him from taking aim with his bayard (which he’d recently learned to shift into a badass sniper rifle). 

 

Nevertheless, Lance is positive that the boy is here for him. There are no other life forms, robotic or otherwise, in this building except for himself, and if this version of Earth’s tech is truly so advanced, there’s no way he hasn’t been noticed by now. He’d somehow hoped that Blue would be back by now, but she’s not, and he plans on hearing this guy out at least.

 

Lance watches as the white-haired guy disappears from his sight by entering the building, and tries to will his heart to calm down from beneath his armor. (He sincerely hopes that his armor will offer enough protection if he does end up getting into a close quarters fight, because it stopped regulating his temperature and filtering out waste just two days ago, and he doesn’t know why.)

 

He sighs to himself, giving one final sweep of the area. The tower is on a cliff face, meaning that the crazy robots can only approach from the front of it, which was the main reason he’d come here before sending Blue off. They never seem to come out at night thankfully, but are very active during the mid parts of the day. 

 

The blue paladin turns and frowns at the room he’s holed up in for the past week. The provision box he’d taken from his Lion- which contained food goo bars, vitamin capsules, water pouches , a tool kit, his favorite blue quilt and some weird Altean hygiene spray- lay open next to the meager fire pit he’d been forced to build when his suit started being weird. 

 

Lance sincerely hopes that the white-haired boy comes in peace, because he’s running rather low on the bars and water pouches, and the vitamin capsules are dangerous to really on for too long. 

 

The blue paladin huffs, running a hand through his hair and grimacing as the curls catch and tangle. This is what he gets for listening to Hunk say that Lance would rock a man bun. 

 

The sound of footsteps reaches his ears, and Lance immediately tenses, looking over to the doorway. The sound is very light, but the building is completely empty and devoid of any type of ambient noise, which means the echo is unmistakable. 

 

Lance checks to make sure his bayard is within reach but inconspicuous, and looks up to see the white-haired boy standing still in the doorway. 

 

The Cuban boy bites back a gasp. That was fast. 

 

He takes in the new arrival immediately. The guy is a few inches shorter than Lance, may even be shorter than Keith slightly. His black clothes don’t seem very casual, maybe a uniform of sort? The spear hovering behind him looks even more scary from this distance, but the boy doesn’t seem ready to use it. He is in fact wearing a blindfold, but Lance knows somehow that he’s being examined regardless of the fact. The guy is almost ethereally pale, with his hair being the most stark shade of white Lance has ever seen. Naturally, Lance cannot see his eyes, but his skin looks smoother than even Lance’s own skin (which is a massive accomplishment, honestly, he’s overheard even Allura being jealous at how nice the blue paladin’s skin is) and his facial features are nothing short of perfectly proportioned. Perfect jawline for his neck and head shape, symmetrical nose and cheekbones, perfect lips, cute ears. Lance swears this guy is so pretty that he doesn’t even look  _ human _ . 

 

“Er…” Lance mutters after a long minute of just staring at the guy, briefly noting the Pod floating a few paces behind him. 

 

The white-haired guy tilts his head to the side curiously.

 

“Um…” the blue paladin says eloquently, “Hi?”

 

There’s a pause.

 

“ _ Hi… _ ” the guy breathes out, seeming to be almost in awe. 

 

Lance flushes, because he swears that if he could see this boy’s eyes that he would find stars in them from looking at him. He’s used to looks of admiration with the rest of the team around, but-

 

( _ “The Galra did not succeed in taking down Altea in this reality,” Slav says imploringly, “but rather a calamity ended in the fall of both species. No one you see will know anything of Voltron, I highly doubt records of the Lions will even exist in this universe, so you cannot rely on being of Voltron to help your standing.” _ )

 

-that can’t be what’s prompting this look right now. Maybe it’s armor? Surely this boy before him has never seen Altean tech before. 

 

“153,” The boy says out of nowhere, still focused sharply on Lance. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

 

“I am a Pod, Unit 9S,” the Pod responds with a female voice (ok,  _ way  _ cooler than Rover, not that he’d ever tell Pidge), so Lance figures that ‘153’ is it’s designation. “I am able to scan, not see.”

 

He has to wonder what ‘9S’ refers to, though. Maybe the guy is military?

 

“So are you  _ scanning  _ what I’m seeing then?” the white-haired boy asks in exasperation, and Lance gets the feel that these two sass each other a lot. 

 

“It appears to be a  _ Homo Sapien _ ,” the Pod responds.

 

“Incredible…” the white-haired guy breathes, clearly stunned. 

 

Lance gives the pair an odd look. What’s the big deal about him being human? This is an alternate version of Earth after all, so it stands to reason that this guy is human too, right? Maybe he’s just not used to seeing any human beings away from wherever he came from. This Earth is post-apocalyptic after all, and Lance has only seen those crazy robots up until this point.

 

“Are you really a Human Being?” the white-haired guy takes a few steps into the room. 

 

“Er…” Lance isn’t sure just what he could possibly be otherwise, but he keeps that comment to himself. “Y-yes?”

 

“How interesting,” the guy says reverently, “I wonder what those indeterminable waves are then? Are you still picking them up, 153?”

 

“Indeed,” the Pod responds, “Upon further examination at this proximity, the waves seem to be some form of sentient energy.”

 

Lance has no idea what these guys are talking about.

 

“Uh,” the blue paladin cuts in, “can I ask a question?”

 

“Of course!” the white-haired guy nods, “I’d be happy to answer any questions you have, sir.”

 

_ ‘Sir _ ?’ Lance ponders, ‘ _ definitely some form of military then… _ ’

 

He decides to ignore the fact that this boy looks no older than Lance himself and is carrying around one of the scariest looking weapons that Lance has ever seen up close. 

 

“Ok,” Lance murmurs. He can totally do this. He’s very confused, but Allura doesn’t take him along for diplomatic missions for no reason. “What’s your name?” seems like a simple enough start.

 

“Ah, sorry about that,” the white-haired guy says sheepishly, “YoRHa No.9 Type S, or 9S, at your service.”

 

Lance hums thoughtfully at that. That’s a  _ ridiculous  _ name, but if this guys is military, he may be apart of some odd black ops or something by the look of him, so he may very well go by some codename.

 

“9S,” Lance nods, “I’m Lance, nice to meet you.”

 

“Lance…” 9S repeats quietly, “what a human-sounding designation...I suppose that’s fitting.”

 

What is with this guy and the human thing? Are there really so little here that he’s this taken aback? Have the remaining humans strayed so far from what once was that even Lance’s name is a marvel?

 

“This is spectacular,” 9S mutters, “I never thought that I would see a human so close.”

 

Lance frowns. This is getting weirder by the second. It’s almost as if…

 

“Why not?” the blue paladin asks, “...Aren’t you human yourself?”

 

…

 

A human. 

 

_ A human being. Here. _

 

9S has never had a chance to meet the beings that they fight for, the beings that facilitated their creation. But he’s studied them. Oh how he’s studied. 

 

This anomaly. No, this  _ human _ . This  _ man _ . He looks nothing like 9S would have guessed, nothing like any android or machine he’s ever seen. Lance’s skin is darker, his lips thinner, his facial angles sharper in some places like the jaw line and softer in places like around the eyes and mouth, his neck a bit longer, his hair coarser and a color that 9S has never seen on another android before, his eyes bluer. 

 

2B is beautiful to 9S, so is Operator 210. He tends to hold them as the standard of beauty in his eyes, but 9S immediately thinks that he needs to make room for this Lance to join that category. 

 

Lance who apparently seems to think that 9S is human as well. 

 

It’s shocking, but not entirely implausible. Afterall, humanity does not leave its place on the Moon. He doesn’t know how Lance got all the way down here, but it doesn’t surprise him too much that the man thinks that 9S is a human as well. 

 

9S is the only one of his model active at the moment, and so there’s no way that Lance could have seen another 9S model around to come to the conclusion that they’re androids.

 

“No sir,” 9S says politely. Lance is a human, all of his pods scans are pointing towards this fact. And as such, Lance is now the highest authority that 9S answers to until he gives his report to Operator 210, “I am a YoRHa Scanner Android, made primarily for information gathering.”

 

Perhaps Lance’s authority supersedes even that of the Operators, actually. There’s no precedent for this, 9S realizes. Humans  _ never  _ leave the Moon.

 

“An Android huh?” Lance repeats curiously, eyebrows, “Can’t say that I saw that coming…”

 

9S has so many questions. It’s hard to even organize his thoughts

 

“Operator 210 will expecting a progress report within the hour,” 153 reminds.

 

“Operator?” Lance latches on to the word curiously, “That the boss?”

 

“Yes sir,” 9S responds promptly, “Operator 210 is my superior. She approved my request to come and examine your life signs.”

 

“She?” Lance asks curiously, “Is she an Android too?”

 

“Yes sir,” 9S responds. Lance’s voice has an interesting cadence to it. It’s so much more expressive that what he’s used to hearing. He wonders if this is a human thing. Figures that it must be. Human emotion is not just a program afterall. 

 

“You know that you don’t have to call me ‘sir’” Lance chuckles, “my name is fine.”

 

“Are you sure it won’t be inappropriate?” 9S questions. 2B is always shutting him down for being too casual. “You  _ are  _ a human,” he reminds, “which probably makes you even more of a superior than Operator 210, honestly.”

 

“Really?” Lance asks incredulously. 9S figures that he must not be familiar with how YoRHa works. Which means he’s probably not a human that oversees the program. 

 

But he can’t be a civilian either, 9S realizes. Lance’s posture seems relaxed, but there’s a tension to it that 9S recognizes from animals when they’re preparing to defend themselves. And his armor seems to be malfunctioning, according to 9S’s scanners, but it’s still a very impressive piece of technology that he’s never seen before. Not to mention that Lance has left a trail of destroyed machines in his wake. From what 9S understands of humanity, a regular civilian shouldn’t be capable of that. 

 

9S makes the momentary conclusion that Lance is likely an officer of some sort. Maybe not directly involved with YoRHa, but certainly someone to cede authority to. 

 

_ ‘Glory to Mankind.’ _

 

Of course, 9S can’t sure of any of this yet. He has so many questions. He wants the opportunity to ask all of them.

 

“Really,” 9S nods, “us YoRHa were created to protect and serve humanity afterall. If you’re really a human being, and both my and my pod’s scanners say that you are, then I have a duty to you.”

 

Lance’s face seems to go a bit red at the cheeks when 9S says this, and the android gleefully notes that this reaction is called a ‘blush’. Which means he’s either embarrassed or flattered Lance. It could also be attributed to anger, but 9S somehow severely doubts that the human before is angry. 

 

“Ok then…” Lance murmurs, “...could I ask you to help me with something, in that case?”

 

“O-Of course!” 9S agrees immediately. The larger anomaly has disappeared already, so who know how long Lance plans on staying before returning to the Moon? This could be an amazing opportunity to learn more about humanity, the YoRHa, and even machines. Lance is certain to have education on what Earth was like Before. 

 

“9S,” the human says seriously, “...I’m kind of down here for a reason.”

 

The android nods. It makes sense that Lance is here on an assignment. And it must be extremely important if the Moon sent a human down to take care of it.

 

“And it’s not something I can have too many people knowing about,” Lance continues on.

 

“I see,” 9S nods again, curiosity peaked. Of course it’s a sensitive mission, if even YoRHa wasn’t informed beforehand. He desperately want to know what Lance is doing. The human may be a special ops agent as opposed to an officer if he’s handling something like this. 

 

“You understand right?” Lance asks, “what I’m implying here?”

 

“If I support you, then I’ll have to keep it a secret?” the android looks at his Pod. 153 is not recording at the moment, doesn’t record unless authorized by 9S himself or ordered to by Operator 210 beforehand. But 9S knows how to tell when Pod 153 has had orders pre-programmed before going on assignment with him. This is not one of those times. 

 

“Yeah,” Lance nods, giving a small smile. “I need to get it done without drawing too much attention. It would be best if the number of people involved was as small as possible.”

 

The scanners at the Bunker had an extremely difficult time even making sense of the anomaly when it first appeared until 9S himself stepped in to help. They wouldn’t have been able to triangulate Lance’s location without him. Anyone would have trouble following along without 9S there to filter out the odd readings coming from the waves Lance exudes.

 

“It’s completely up to you,” Lance is quick to say, “I could use some help honestly, but if you don’t want to go over your boss’s head, then I get it.”

 

He could always report that the anomaly moved out of his range at the last minute, and that he trailed it to a new location. If he reports it as only being hostile towards the machines, and Lance doesn’t do anything to stand out to the YoRHa, then 9S could probably get away keeping the fact that he found a human secret for about three days before the Operators pull 2B away from whatever she’s doing to help him. It would be easy to help Lance and keep it to himself for a  little while.

 

“How much do you know about the Earth’s history?” 9S finds himself asking impulsively. He’s already decided to help this human, but he’d at least like to know if Lance will be able to answer someone of his more obscure questions.

 

“Huh…?” Lance cocks his head to the side, “Well...I mean, a lot, I guess?My information is probably a bit antiquated for your standards though.”

 

9S smiles. If Lance’s knowledge extends back to the age of mankind roaming the Earth, then that’s more than enough for him to be able to be the perfect source of information for the android.

 

“I’d be honored to be your support, sir,” 9S states with a nod.

 

“I realize I’m asking a lot-” Lance cuts himself off, “Whoa,  _ seriously _ ?”

 

9S laughs a little. Lance is so casual. Maybe he won’t make as big of a deal of 9S letting his emotions influence his actions somewhat. 

 

“Seriously,” he confirms, “I can buy you about three days to move around mainly undetected. I won’t be able to directly support for the entirety of them, but I will be able to devote the majority of them to being your support.”

 

“Dude,” Lance says in awe, “that’d be  _ awesome _ ! Are you sure you’re ok with that?”

 

‘ _ Dude is a form of human slang, _ ’ Pod 153 transmits to 9S directly, ‘ _ a term of endearment of sorts _ .’

 

A human. A real human right in front of him that’s asking for his help. 9S has  _ so many questions _ . And he so  _ desperately  _ wants an opportunity to get answers. This may never happen for him again.

 

“Yes sir,” 9S nods surely, “I’m very sure.”

 

And Lance smiles at that. The android can see the relief clearly on his face. Are all humans so emotive? It’s such a fascinating sight.

 

“Alright then,” the human nods, “I have a few things to ask before we get started.”

 

“I’ll do my best to answer them, sir,” 9S responds.

 

Lance chuckles again at that. 9S wonders if all humans sound so musical when they laugh.

 

“Please 9S,” the human says, moving forward for the first time to stand before 9S and extend his right hand. “Call me ‘Lance’,”

 

9S looks down at the hand offered to him. He knows this practice. Lance does it so naturally, if there were any doubts in the android’s mind that he’s dealing with a true human being, then they’re dashed when he grips the hand and feels the very slight warmth emanating through both of their gloves. 9S is so glad that he updated his temperature perception sensors the other day.

 

“It’s nice to meet you,” 9S smiles again.

 

Like everything the android does, he’ll do his best to see this man through his mission.

 

“Lance.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I went to Otakon 2017 and saw a lovely print of Lance. I turned the corner and saw an equally lovely print of 9S and they both hurt me lol. I'd already entertained this crossover idea beforehand but it wasn't until then that I realized that I simply had to do something with this. Because like, can you imagine these two as friends, allies, partners!? I get giddy at the thought hahaha. 
> 
> I'm gonna say that this takes place during season two of Voltron timeline wise, but naturally doesn't follow the canon to a tee. Nier: Automata is a great deal more complicated timeline wise, so I'm just going to ask those who know all about not to hold me too tightly to that canon. Be wary that there will eventually come major spoilers for the Automata side of things.
> 
> So here we have the bros first meeting. I imagine that 9S's natural curiosity and desire to learn about mankind is driving his actions here. Lance is a human, and that automatically makes him the shiniest shiny thing 9S has ever encountered, and because of the nature of YoRHa and how they operate and what they say, I have to imagine that a human being would automatically have a great deal of authority over any android that comes across them. After all, YoRHa is all 'Glory to Mankind'. 
> 
> I won't say much more about this, other than to point out that the main characters are most definitely Lance and 9S, so a working knowledge or at least a vague familiarity with both characters is the ideal way of coming into this. I'll do my best to make it possible for those who may not know much about either to read this and have it make sense, but I can only do that so much and still have the plot move the way I want it to.
> 
> That being said, I'll admit that this was a bit of an impulsive post lol. I do in fact know where I'm going with this, but I still have some finer details to hammer out, so I can't promise regular updates just yet, especially with my other works in progress, but I can most definitely promise that this will be completed. 
> 
> Stay safe and happy! See y'all next time


End file.
